Exclusive: Letter signed by figures on right and left of party says UK should follow Australia’s example by enacting ban
More than 60 Labour MPs have written to Keir Starmer urging him to back a social media ban for under-16s, with peers due to vote on the issue this week.
The MPs, who include select committee chairs, former frontbenchers and MPs from the right and left of the party, are looking to put pressure on the prime minister as calls mount for the UK to follow Australia’s precedent.
Starmer has said he is open to a ban but members of the House of Lords are looking to force the issue when they vote this week on an amendment to the children, wellbeing and schools bill that would enact one within a year of the bill passing.
The vote could pit Labour peers against the prime minister, who is understood to want to wait to assess the evidence from the Australian ban, which came into force in December.
